Top ten super-middleweights Daniel Jacobs and John Ryder do battle on Saturday night at Alexandra Palace, north London in a WBA 168lbs eliminator. Luke G. Williams previews the action…
The super-middleweight division is in a period of stasis right now, as the boxing world awaits definitive news of undisputed 168lbs champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s next move.
In the meantime, however, a fight such as Saturday night’s between leading contenders Daniel Jacobs 37-3, 30 KOs) of the United States and John Ryder (30-5, 17 KOs) of Great Britain is to be welcomed.
Jacobs, the former WBA ‘regular’ and IBF middleweight champion, is currently ranked by Boxing Social as the fifth best 168lb-er in the world while Ryder, a former WBA interim champion at 168lbs, is one place behind the ‘Miracle Man’ in sixth. Both men badly need a win to prevent their careers from drifting into anti-climax.
The 35-year-old Jacobs, born and raised in Brownsville, Brooklyn, has a compelling backstory, having overcome a battle with cancer in 2011 to become a two-time world title holder. An accomplished amateur who just missed out on qualification for the 2008 Olympics, Jacobs holds a host of wins over fighters of decent calibre, including Ishe Smith, Caleb Truax, Sergio Mora (twice), Peter Quillin and Sergiy Derevyanchenko.
However, Jacobs is probably better known for his losses than any of his victories. He suffered narrow reverses on points against Gennady Golovkin in 2017 and Canelo in 2019, as well as a shock fifth-round shellacking at the hands of Dmitry Pirog way back in 2010, a fight which he entered in a fugue of grief after the death just days earlier of his beloved grandmother who had helped raised him as a child.
For all his skills and accomplishments, Jacobs himself seems to recognise that he is still seeking a career defining victory. As such, this is a must-win fight if he is to position himself for another shot at a world title.
“I’m a decorated fighter,” Jacobs said this week. “One bad performance doesn’t define my career… The importance of this fight is to put us back into title contention.
“My career is far from over, I have a lot more that I want to continue and accomplish, I want to be able to have that Hall of Fame talk that me and my trainer have always talked about since we laced the first pair of gloves in my first professional fight. John Ryder is a motivated fighter, he understands the risks and tasks at hand, I’m looking forward to doing my job as well.”
Backers of Ryder will be encouraged by the fact Jacobs has had a turbulent couple of years. He split with long-time trainer Andre Rozier after the Canelo fight and has fought just twice since, a facile five-round victory against serial n’er do well Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in December 2019 and a tougher than expected points victory against Gabriel Rosado in November 2020.
However, Jacobs is now back with Rozier and seems to have taken the challenge of Ryder seriously. If Jacobs is at – or anywhere near to – his best then he should win at a canter. However, if he has slipped – as looked the case against Rosado – then the Londoner, assured of fervent home support, could spring an upset.
Ryder is on an excellent run of form. After dropping a split decision to Rocky Fielding in 2017, he won four straight fights by stoppage against decent if far from world-class foes in Patrick Nielsen, Jamie Cox, Andrey Sirotkin and Bilal Akkawy before losing a controversial decision to Callum Smith in a WBA ‘super’ title fight.
Against Smith, ‘The Gorilla’ maintained a high tempo and managed to get inside the Liverpudlian’s jab and get to work on the inside, tactics he will surely look to replicate against Jacobs, who like Smith possesses the advantage in height and reach.
One cannot discount the possibility that Jacobs is on the slide and Ryder is catching him at the right time, but my pick is for the American to overcome some tricky moments and assert his class with a clear points victory.